Currently target designation and/or illumination and air reconnaissance are performed by separate items of optronic equipment. These items of optronic equipment are for example pods attached to an aircraft.
There are reconnaissance pods and target designation and/or illumination pods. Target designation and/or illumination pods are less voluminous and lighter than reconnaissance pods.
The other differences between these families of pods lie in the fact that the designation and/or illumination pods:                comprise one or more lasers making it possible to perform one or more of the following functions:                    telemetry, where necessary with ocular security, of a target or targets in the field,            laser marking of a target or targets on behalf of another operator on land or in the air,            laser illumination on behalf of one or more laser-guided weapons (guided for example according to the principles of the STANAG 3733)                        and that they are often capable of being oriented inside a large addressable field going typically from the half-space in front of the aircraft to rearward angles compatible with aircraft maneuvers such as “breaks” or “hippodromes” (for example a rearward addressable field in excess of 110° of the aircraft or pod axis).        
In the context of operational missions, air reconnaissance is provided by a reconnaissance pod attached to a first aircraft which takes a picture of a determined zone. The images are transmitted to a station that analyzes them. If a target is present, the information relating to this target is transmitted to the target designation and/or illumination pod attached to another aircraft which receives the order to take off.
Currently, the time between the reconnaissance of a zone and the illumination of a target (“sensor to shooter loop”) is approximately 180 minutes, which poses an operational problem notably in the case of targets that can be moved rapidly.
In addition, the two functions are performed by means of two aircraft.
The two pods may if necessary be attached to one and the same aircraft, which then poses problems of space requirement, weight or load-carrying capacity.
But in one case as in the other, two pods are used, which is costly.